And if you are wanting to target general macros, then get a list of foods ordered by their carb counts and just aim for the ones on the list in the lower end when you want lower carb and those on the upper end when you want more carbs. You'll have that list in memory soon enough.

And if you are wanting to target general macros, then get a list of foods ordered by their carb counts and just aim for the ones on the list in the lower end when you want lower carb and those on the upper end when you want more carbs. You'll have that list in memory soon enough.

This is a good way I learned that through The Zone a few years ago. Gives a good general idea. A rule of thumb for that was kinda palm sized protein and then double that of regular veg. or same size for starchy veg.

Also add to that eating very slowly so your body has chance to catch up and savor every mouthful, putting down your knife and fork after each bite. Not everyone wants to do that but it helps me. I have never counted and really have no idea as to my macros. Seems tough to do as I tend to do a lot of food mixes/casseroles in large sizes so I can freeze some. Eating real food with no sugars and plenty of fat makes it so I just don't overeat at all.

Starting Primal June 2012 at 148.5lbs, goal weight in November 2012.
Lowest weight 93lbs - too thin. Now up to around 101lbs and holding.
Primal, minus eggs, dairy and a myriad of other allergens.

"Cavemen didn't do it" isn't a very good argument. Cavemen also didn't bathe, have supermarkets, modern medical care, electricity, a structured verbal language and mechanical means of transportation. Most neolithic things are better than their paleo counterparts - diet just isn't one of them.

Just eat real food. Try and make protein the centerpiece of each meal and build your dish around it. Pay attention to your hunger and try and eat slowly - the feeling of fullness lags behind by up to 20 minutes, so the faster you eat, the more you'll overeat due to this lagging fullness. Don't go adding fat to things that don't need added fat. Spooning butter all over your meal is no different than spooning sugar all over your meal. It's just empty calories. Use oil/butter as a cooking tool and a flavoring agent, not a significant source of calories. Throw in regular heaving lifting, some sprints and regular moderate cardio and you should get pretty darn close to where you want to be just by following these guidelines.

Butter (Dave Asprey)

Butter is an unexpected source of cognitive enhancement, and contains one ingredient that studies show is beneficial for cognitive function and gut health called butyrate. Butyrate is a short chain saturated fat and anti-inflammatory. According to three studies, the most common class of genetic neurodegenerative diseases are delayed in mice with the treatment of butyrate.(1-3)

Butyrate protects against intestinal permeability in rat models of ulcerative colitis.(4) This shows that short-chain fatty acids, including butyrate, play an important role in the maintenance of gut barrier integrity. Butyrate also sharply reduces the harmful effects of type 1 diabetes in rats.(5)

Butyrate may also prevent and treat diet-induced insulin resistance in mice. Butyrate is related to promotion of energy expenditure and induction of mitochondria function.(6)

The highest concentration of butyrate may be found in high quality grass-fed butter.

Butter is an unexpected source of cognitive enhancement, and contains one ingredient that studies show is beneficial for cognitive function and gut health called butyrate. Butyrate is a short chain saturated fat and anti-inflammatory. According to three studies, the most common class of genetic neurodegenerative diseases are delayed in mice with the treatment of butyrate.(1-3)

Butyrate protects against intestinal permeability in rat models of ulcerative colitis.(4) This shows that short-chain fatty acids, including butyrate, play an important role in the maintenance of gut barrier integrity. Butyrate also sharply reduces the harmful effects of type 1 diabetes in rats.(5)

Butyrate may also prevent and treat diet-induced insulin resistance in mice. Butyrate is related to promotion of energy expenditure and induction of mitochondria function.(6)

The highest concentration of butyrate may be found in high quality grass-fed butter.

Butter has trace nutrients. It is not a whole food. Molasses and maple syrup are both more nutrient-dense than butter, and a faster source of energy than the (extremely small) quantity of SCT's in butter. Furthermore, resistant starch is a better source of butyrate. If that's what you're after, eat navy beans and green bananas. I'd avoid all of them as a major calorie source.

I just eat till I'm full. I workout a lot (de-stress, combats fibromyalgia and I can't stand to be idle) and stay so busy it doesn't really matter how much but the thoguht process shouldn't necessarily be how much you eat but more importantly what you eat.

Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it. If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. And supposing you have tried and failed again and again, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'Failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.

We cook in butter usually (eggs, fish, chickens that are roasting), though some meats are just in a dry pan (beef, venison and pork) because the fat inside renders. We eat nuts, seeds, and avocados. We take cod liver oil as a supplement. We use flax or olive oil on our salad (usually a BAS which is a whole head of lettuce utilizes 2 tb oil across 3 people). I use coconut cream on my frozen berries (a dessert I have about. . . 2-3x a week max). My husband also uses coconut oil on his roasted sweet potatoes (2x week after workouts), and when we roast sweet potato "chips" we use the coconut oil on them to help them crisp up. We also love avocados.

Even so, our diet is "high fat" though no one would think so to look at how we eat. It's usually about 40-50% fat, and we aren't 'slathering" at all. If anything we just use it as cooking/dressing oil, and there's plenty of fat in normal food.

"Cavemen didn't do it" isn't a very good argument. Cavemen also didn't bathe, have supermarkets, modern medical care, electricity, a structured verbal language and mechanical means of transportation. Most neolithic things are better than their paleo counterparts - diet just isn't one of them.

You're partially right. Except, they did bathe and they did have structured verbal language. They were technologically primitive, not cognitively.

Butter has trace nutrients. It is not a whole food. Molasses and maple syrup are both more nutrient-dense than butter, and a faster source of energy than the (extremely small) quantity of SCT's in butter. Furthermore, resistant starch is a better source of butyrate.

I've never counted calories and never will. I usually maintain a general idea of the amount of protein I'm consuming, but that's it. I find that listening to my body and eating when I'm hungry is the best way to go and produces the most consistent results.